Method of manufacturing quilted fabric material

ABSTRACT

METHOD FOR PRODUCING A LAMINATED TEXTILE MATERIALPOSSESSING A QUILT-LIKE SURFACE DESIGN CORRESPONDING TO A PREDETERMINED PATTERN BY PATTERN LAMINATING TWO SHEETS OF FIBROUS MATERIAL HAVING DIFFERENTIAL SHRINKAGE PROPERTIES AND SUBJECTING SAID LAMINATE TO SHRINKING CONDITIONS TO SHRINK ONE OF THE LAYERS TO AN EXTENT SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THE OTHER LAYER.

United States Patent Int. Cl. B29c 27/00; D0311 3/08 US. Cl. 156-85 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Method for producing a laminated textile materialpossessing a quilt-like surface design corresponding to a predetermined pattern by pattern laminating two sheets of fibrous material having differential shrinkage properties and subjecting said laminate to shrinking conditions to shrink one of the layers to an extent substantially greater than the other layer.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 871,530, filed Nov. 4, 1969 and now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation of application Ser. No. 471,435, filed July 12, 1965 and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method of making novel fabric material and to the fabric produced therefrom. It particularly relates to multi-ply fabric materials which has a puckered or quilt-like surface effect. It especially relates to the making of wearing apparel having surface ornamentation of a quilt-like structure and which is comprised of at least two sheets of heat-stabilizable material laminated together in a pattern.

Heretofore, it has been known to use the concept of differential shrinking in order to produce bulkiness in various yarns. For example, the prior art has produced synthetic yarns with the bulky characteristics of wool by taking two bundles of continuous filaments composed of the same, or of different synthetic materials and derived from separate spinnerets feeding into the same or into different spinning baths, and processing these bundles in such a way that the two bundles of filaments have different shrinkage characteristics. When these two bundles are combined and subjected to further treatment, one group of filaments shrink to a considerable extent, thereby causing the unshrunk filaments to pull up into gathers, puckers, folds or other shapes to form a bulk yarn. It has also been known to take filaments having different shrinkage characteristics and weaving them into a fabric prior to the shrinkage treatment, after which the product is subjected to shrinking conditions to cause the yarn to bulk in the same manner described above.

According to the prior art, embossed or crimped effects in fabrics via the lamination route using differential shrinkage embodies, for example, the printing of certain portions of a cotton fabric with a resist, and subsequently treating the fabric with caustic soda of mercerizing strength, whereby the unprotected fabric portions are strongly shrunk and the protected portions are pushed up into puckers or crimps. This same technique has been used on two fabrics which have been bonded together by an adhesive and wherein one of the fabrics has been parchmentized and the other fabric sheet non-parchmentized. As shown above, the non-parchmentized fabric portions shrink and contract, whereas the stiff parchmentized portions are raised or crimped, thereby producing a cloqueeffect.

One of the most recent advances of the prior art in producing novelty fabrics of the type referred to has been to take a sheet of spongy material having open pores and impressing the sheet with an adhesive and setting the adhesive, thereby producing depressed areas and raised areas along the surface of the spongy material. The spongy material, preferably, is a polyurethane foam having pores interconnecting with each other and having a suitable backing sheet of textile fabric to support the foam. This type of procesisng can produce ornamented resilient absorbent materials comprising a wide variety of surface colorings, contours and contrasts.

It is an object of the present invention to produce a novel fabric which has a quilt-like surface.

It is another object of this invention to produce a multiply fabric material having on the surface thereof a quiltlike or puckered effect.

It is an additional object of this invention to produce wearing apparel having utility as an outer garment, such as ski-jackets and the like.

It is still another object of this invention to produce these fabrics in a more economical and facile manner than has heretofore been known.

It is a particular object of this invention to produce fabrics composed of heat-stabilizable continuous filaments using a unique pattern laminating method.

The prior art processing schemes, and the yarns and fabrics made therefrom, have been very difficult to practice commercially for the reason that the processing sequences have been extremely expensive, or the products made therefrom have failed to achieve the desired properties which would be acceptable to the market place. For example, the method of parchmentizing cotton fabrics is not only relatively expensive, but renders the treated fabric partially transparent, thereby making such a fabric unacceptable generally, to the wearing apparel trade. Other prior art schemes, such as the one using the spongy material is also expensive, in that polyurethane foams are relatively high priced when compared to conventional fabrics. Additionally, the processing scheme for treating the spongy material is not readily adaptable, per se, to the differential shrinkage technique contemplated by the present invention since the concept for manufacture is totally different.

Even though differential shrinkage is successful in achieving bulking in fabric form, it, of necessity, is accompanied by undesirable factors, if used to produce embossed or puckered fabrics. It is known that the final dimensions of such fabrics are controlled by those filaments which have the greater shrinkage and the high shrinkages required to produce puckered fabrics are regarded by some in the textile industry as wasteful of loom capacity. Furthermore, owing to the uncertainty in the amount of actual shrinkage which will be achieved, it would be contemplated by the prior art as almost impossible to achieve design clarity and distinctiveness in any embossed or quilted surface design.

The objects of the present invention as heretofore mentioned provide a pleasing appearance to the quilted fabric and achieve a clarity and sharpness of the predetermined design pattern that has never heretofore been achieved.

According to the present invention, a composite textile material having a quilt-like surface effect is produced by a method comprising heat-stabilizing a facing sheet of heat-stabilizable fibrous material, pattern laminating said facing sheet to a backing sheet of heat-stabilizable fibrous material, and subjecting said laminated sheets to conditions sufiicient to heat-stabilize said backing sheet such that it shrinks to an extent substantially greater than said facing sheet.

The method of laminating fabric sheets together is well known to those skilled in the art and simply embodies bonding said sheets together by applying an adhesive therebetween. However, according to this invention, said adhesive is applied between the fabrics in accordance with a predetermined pattern or design by the use of, say, a printing roll having engraved thereon such pattern or design.

As illustrative of the processing of fabrics according to this invention, a facing sheet of fabric comprising, for example, polyester fabric which has been finished and heat-set is passed through a nip between two rolls, one of which is a gravure or engraved roll from which the sheet is inked in any suitable manner by an adhesive which is applied, for example, by a doctor blade. The engraved roll can have produced thereon any predetermined type of pattern or design for surface ornamentation. The use of such rolls are well known in the art and is practiced as it would be in the printing art.

After passing through these nip rolls and having applied thereon the adhesive in accordance with a predetermined pattern, a backing sheet is placed in direct contact with said facing sheet and these two sheets are fed between an additional pair of nip rolls in order to supply pressure in order to bind the two sheets together. Pressures ranging from to 500 pounds per square inch gauge are useful with 50 to 200 p.s.i.g. being preferred. The backing sheet of fabric can be composed of greige or unfinished polyester. Subsequent to this laminating step, the fabric pattern laminate is passed through a zone such as over a hot can under conditions designed to produce shrinkage in the backing sheet to an extent substantially greater than the shrinkage of the facing sheet.

The product produced from this processing sequence can then be finished in any manner conventional to the textile art and can be subsequently cut and shaped into wearing apparel.

In addition to wearing apparel, the product of the present invention can be utilized as a heat or sound insulator or in other applications where decoration or insulation, or both, are desired.

It is noted from this processing sequence that the product produced therefrom is unique, in that the beauty, clarity and sharpness of design is outstanding and represents a product which heretofore could only be achieved, if at all, by the prior art method of sewing together two fabrics having a filling or batting therebetween. It is further noted that one of the characteristics of this product is that the facing sheet is raised in such a manner that the area beneath the raised portion is separated in a finite manner from the backing sheet and is represented by the area bounded by the points of contact where the adhesive was applied in accordance with the predetermined pattern.

Various printing compositions may be used in the practice of this invention, for example, dyes, inks, parchments, lacquers, and other suitable coloring compositions may be used to provide a tint or hue to the adhesive. Suitable adhesives which may be used in the practice of this invention comprise rubber cement, rubber latex, synthetic rubber cement, cellulose cement, heat sensitve adhesives, pressure sensitive adhesives and thermosetting compositions. It is distinctly preferable to use the epoxy resins with the various catalysts, all of which are well known in the adhesive art. In short, any material which has adhesive properties and which had been subjected to the processing conditions of this invention without losing its adhesive characteristics may be used in this invention.

Filaments which can be used to produce the sheets of fabrics in this invention may be composed of any one or combination of the following: Polyamides such as formed by the reaction of dibasic acids, diamines, and amino acids; vinylidene chloride polymers such as polyvinylidene chloride and copolymers thereof with vinyl acetate or vinyl chloride; cellulose esters such as cellulose acetate and cellulose xanthate; polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene; and polyesters such as the polyester of terephthalic acid with ethylene glycol. The choice of materials from which to make the fabrics can be from 4 any of the above compositions as long as one of the sheets is substantially shrinkable relative to the other sheet by the application, for example, of heat from a dry source.

It is noted that one of the characteristics of this group of compositions is that they can be characterized as heatstabilizable or as being thermoplastic.

It is particularly advantageous in the practice of this invention if the facing sheet of heat stabilizable material is heat-stabilized in such a manner that following the treatment it will have a percentage of shrinkage of no more than 4% and preferably no more than 2.5% when subjected to additional heat stabilizing conditions. The backing sheet should be, prior to lamination, in the unfinished or greige state. Additionally, it should have a shrinking characteristic of from 12.5% to 50% of its original length, more preferably from 15% to 30% upon the application of, say, dry heat. In any event, the differential shrinkage between the two fabrics prior to the final heat stabilization step should be at least 10%, and preferably from 15% to 20% The conditions for heat stabilizing each of the fabrics contemplated by this invention will, of course, vary great ly depending upon the chemical composition of the fabrics; as spinning conditions which were used to produce the filaments; and the weaving conditions which were used to produce the fabric. Those skilled in the art will recognize the impossibility of setting forth precisely the conditions which must be used in the multitude of specific combinations possible in the practice of this invention. However, in a general sense, suitable temperatures will range from 150 F. to 500 F. with corresponding exposures or residence time from 2 seconds to seconds. In any event, the combination of temperature and residence time must be below that which causes decomposition of the fabric material. For the polyester fabrics, suitable temperatures may range from 325 to 425 F. with a corresponding residence time from 2 to 100 seconds; more preferably, the temperature for heat stabilizing the polyester fabrics will range from 380 to 415 F. with a corresponding residence time from 5 to 15 seconds. Those skilled in the art can readily select the proper conditions for stabilizing the other fabrics contemplated for use in this invention.

The term heat-stabilizable and thermoplastic as used herein denote the characteristic of the composition to conform to its original as made or relaxed molecular configuration upon the application of heat. This characteristic is controlled by the draw down or stretching of the filaments at any given temperature as they are made in the spinning process. This stretching causes the molecular orientation within the filament to take a strained or unnatural position. It follows, therefore, that the filament is constantly striving to return to the molecular orientation incident to its relaxed condition. The application of heat allows such return to take place thus causing the filament or the fabric made therefrom to shrink.

The unique features of this invention are illustrated in the following examples:

EXAMPLE I Two sheets of woven fabric having 72 ends per inch and 68 picks per inch is manufactured with yarn of continuous filament polyester (polyethylene terephthlate) of 70 denier and 15 filaments being twisted with 18 turns per inch.

One of these woven polyester fabric sheets is heated to 350 F. in contact with a hot metal surface for 10 seconds. The entire fabric shrinks to an extent wherein less than 4% residual shrinkage remains.

The pre-shrunk or heat-stabilized polyester sheet is pattern laminated using a floral design to the unshrunk or un-stabilized by passing both sheets having the adhesive intercalated therebetween through a pair of squeeze rolls having a pressure of 200 pounds per linear inch width, a contact temperature of 320 F. and a residence or contact time of 2-3 minutes. The adhesive used for the lamination had the following composition:

Parts by Wt. Epoxy resin (Shell Chemical Co. #1003) parts, solids, in a 70% solution Polyamide cure, parts solids in a 70% solution 40 Pigment, e.g. Ti solids 100 Total solids 200 The fabric pattern laminate produced as above is next heated to 400 F. with the unshrunk fabric in contact with a metal surface for 5 seconds. The unshrunk fabric shrinks approximately 15% of its original length thereby causing the pre-shrunk fabric to pucker up and create a quilt-like surface effect conforming to the floral design used in the lamination step.

The design had extremely sharp definition and was pleasing in appearance.

EXAMPLE it Instead of subjecting each of the woven fabric sheets of Example I to elevated temperature to cause heatstabilization or shrinkage, such stabilization may also be accomplished upon immersion of the fabric and/or laminate in water, preferably, hot boiling water, or in a suitable solvent such as phenol (or substituted phenols), until the desired shrinkage has been accomplished. If the solvent is used for shrinkage the adhesive must be one that will not dissolve in the solvent.

EXAMPLE III As an alternative to the pre-shrinking step of Example I, the filaments themselves may be heat-stabilized prior to weaving into the fabric. In such case, the filaments are stabilized by subjecting them to the same conditions as specified in Example I until there remains less than 4% residual shrinkage in the filaments. Subsequently, these stabilized filaments are woven into a fabric and the steps of pattern laminating of the two sheets and heat-stabilizing of the resultant laminate are repeated to produce the composite textile material of this invention.

Even though this invention has been described as having two sheets of heat-stabilizable fabrics laminated together, it is within the concept of this invention to include multi-ply laminates for producing any desired novelty surface effects. For example, a three-ply laminate could be produced by having the facing sheet and the backing sheet composed with finished and heat-set polyester fabrics with the intermediate sheet being composed of unfinished polyester fabric. Upon subjecting this three-ply laminate to a source of, for example, dry heat, the intermediate layer would shrink thereby causing both of the outer sheets to become puckered or raised in accordance with the pattern used in applying the adhesive.

I claim:

1. A method for making a composite textile material comprising:

(a) heat stabilizing a woven facing sheet comprised of continuous filament yarns by heating said sheet in contact with a hot metal surface, such that a residual shrinkage of not more than 4 percent remains,

(b) applying a thermosetting adhesive in a pattern to the heat-stabilized facing sheet by passing said sheet through a nip between two rolls, one of which is gravure or engraved roll from which the sheet is inked in a suitable pattern by the adhesive which is applied by a doctor blade,

(0) laminating said facing sheet to a closely woven backing sheet comprised of continuous filament polyethylene terephthalate yarns, said backing sheet having a percentage shrinkage of from at least 12.5 percent up to about 50 percent of its original length, by passing both sheets having the patterned adhesive intercalated therebetween through a pair of pressure squeeze rolls at elevated temperature, the temperature being high enough to effect bonding but not so high as to effect shrinkage of said backing sheet,

(d) heating said laminated sheets with the backing sheet in contact with a metal surface to a temperature such that it shrinks at least 10 percent greater than said facing sheet to produce a laminated product wherein the surface of said facing sheet is raised in such a manner that the area beneath the raised portion is separated in a finite manner with the backing sheet and is represented by the area bounded by the points of contact where the adhesive was applied in accordance with the predetermined pattern.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1946 Kahil 16l-73 4/1966 Kumin et al. 28-72 ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner R. L. MAY, Assistant Examiner 

